It's new because it has been brought to my awareness, however, I realised I've always felt this deep withinand I knew there was something about it.

I just didn't know how to express it.

Well, until, right now!

I was listening to a podcast (as I do, as you know I'm a personal development junkie and I'm always learning constantly, daily!) and the guest on the show mentioned how September is the new January and how, even though the year is long past the mid mark, we can start fresh in life right now.

And since you've been part of my world for a while you know what I always say;

'Each moment is our only moment...'

See, for us here in the UK, our new academic year starts in September and we've been conditioned to begin a new chapter of our lives from the age of 2!

Yes, 2, for those of us who started nursery at that young age.

And once you're all grown up and start your own family with children then the same pattern starts all over again.

It actually continues forever...

Have you ever felt a wave of newness come over you once August summer holidays are over?

It's like you want to get back to study or work and you've been reenergised after a well deserved break.

I've always felt this deep within.

This is what they call inspiration and being inspired!

I mean, I feel this about January too - because you know, new calendar year, but there's always something about September and maybe because I've always been studying and I get a fresh supply of stationary and I'm ready to get back on it.

We know that God tells us that; "Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." [Qur'an; 13:11 - partial]

So, I say, let's begin anew right now!

I'm giving myself a 28 day challenge.

Because you know I love challenges!

Challenges push me out of my comfort-zone-comfort and help me to grow and transform into the person I want to be now.

So what is the new challenge?

It came as another reminder from another teacher - to practice more afformations!

What are afformations?

This is a term created by Noah St. John and basically what we do is ask positive questions instead of the negative ones and be open to receiving the answers.

Our mind is like a computer and whatever we input into it, it will equally output the answer (whether we like the answer or not!).

An example is if we ask ourselves; 'Why am I always broke?'

Our mind will go search within the archives of our brain to discover all the times we said we were broke and the situations we were in which made us feel that way and our mind will speak back to us and say; 'You're broke because....'

Yup!

So, afformations are a way to put a positive spin on it.

Wherever intention goes energy flows.

In other words, whatever we focus on, expands - negative or positive.

However tempting it is - and it is tempting and that's why temptation is a sin - we MUST focus on the positive so we say; 'Why am I financially abundant right now?'

Yes, I know, that may not be your current reality, but we MUST stay in the positive long enough to see the results.

And to do this we MUST repeat daily and frequently and especially when we are feeling low or ladies - you know, when our hormones are bouncing off the walls!

Remember God says He will give us the good times and the bad times.

It's all a test and trial to see how patient and grateful we are.

Everything comes with practice, discipline and determination.

Of course it's not easy.

I never said it was easy!

I've been on this path for the last 23 years and I'm still learning new things daily!

But we owe it to ourselves to live a happy and healed life now.

Here are some more examples to get you going on this challenge;

"Why am I healthy, fit and energetic right now?'

"Why is my relationship healthy and peaceful?"

"Why is it so easy for me to pray all my daily prayers?'

You can add as many as you want however do sit with each one for a moment and fully feel it in your soul and listen to the answers.

When you do get the answers - and answers you will get - don't let your rational mind brush it off.

Play with it - you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

And of course you don't just say these things and sit and wait and just sit and wait - don't, you'll get cramps - you have to actively be involved in doing your part of being fit and healthy and working towards financial abundance and a healthy relationship. But all these will help.

That's our challenge - let me know in the comments below if you'll stay with this for the next 28 days because I am! :)

Lots of love, duas and light.

Nadia Leona Yunis

I'm writing to inspire and motivate you to make positive changes in all areas of your life so you can live a life full of purpose with purpose - because this is what I'm doing for me too!

Are you making each moment count and actively seeking solutions to your challenges and working hard in your worship, studies, work, relationship, life, business?

Are you constantly learning and applying?

Are you making a difference to the lives of others and becoming an asset to humanity which you are meant to be now?

On the Day of Judgment we will stand alone in front of God - all those whom we love and those who we go crazy over will be standing alone too!

Each of us will be accounting for our own life - what we did with it and how we spent our time.

We think we have all the time in the world - but do we really?

How many do we know were here with us a year ago and now they're gone!

Take a moment and picture yourself now on the Day of Judgment standing in front of God alone with your book of deeds and ready to account...

He (God) will say, “How many years did you stay on the earth?” They will say: “We stayed a day or part of a day....” [Quran; 23:112-113]

And what is our purpose here?

Why are we suffering so much?

Why are we hurting?

Why are we so negative?

Why do we live in drama and create drama?

When someone helps us why do we reject it?

This victim mentality does not serve us!

We are created for a reason - we must excel and grow!

"Did you then think that We had created you in jest (without any purpose), and that you would not be returned to Us (in the Hereafter)? So, God is exalted, the True King. None has the right to be worshiped but Him...[Qur'an; 23:115-116]

We will all return to God!

THIS is our reality which the Qur'an teaches us over and over.

This is what our Prophet was teaching us!

Yet - we get caught up in our head and the stories we tell ourselves over and over - (usually these stories don't exit - we make them up) and then we make ourselves suffer and then years and years go by and then we wake up and realise we don't have the energy we used to - we don't have that strength - we are not youthful - we have more responsibilities!

We weren't created to just work and pay the bills!

Yes, that is part of life but NO that is NOT life itself!

Life is much more - it has tests and trials to teach us, guide us and purify us.

God has blessed us - in fact gifted us - with so many skills, talents and abilities that most of us are not even using.

Is that YOU?

Are YOU afraid what 'others' will think of you if you step up and shine your light?

I did and guess what...i still do!

It's not easy putting ourselves out there to be judged and criticized - yet we must stand up for what we believe - we must make our voice heard - we must start living right now.

Are YOU ready to live now?

YOU have so much potential in you right now which is lying dormant...because of your fear!

I spent years fearing too...i still get into my own head at times...but the more i put myself out there through my work the more prayers i get from everyone for showing up and shining my light because they needed to hear and read what i said because in that moment it was what they needed to get back on track on living a life of purpose.

God has blessed you - and you reading this need to be grateful for all His gifts to you and declare that from this moment on now you are going to live the life you were created to live.

"Allah (God) is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah (God) guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah (God) presents examples for the people, and Allah (God) is Knowing of all things." {Qur'an; 24:35}

I'm on a spiritual detox since the last few weeks - ridding myself of darkness and filling my soul with light.

It's very exhausting and tiring though - especially physically.

It has to get worse to get better.

I'm on the worse part however I believe and it will get better insha'Allah.

May Allah (God) protect us all from the evil of evil!

So, why am I sharing this with you today?

I'm sharing with you so you too believe and have hope - because the thing is life still continues on and through it all we still have to be present for our loved ones, our clients, our business, our studies, our work/job etc.

And through it all i'm continuing too as i have clients to serve and family to be present for.

So, keep the faith, do what you have to to heal and still stay focused on your dream and your vision, believe in it no matter how tough and rough the road gets and work hard and smart to achieve it!And i'm sharing with you my favourite prayer for light which i love so much and recite all the time!

On the coming of dawn the The Messenger of God (may peace and blessings be upon him) used to say in his prayers:

"O Allah (God), place light in my heart, and on my tongue light, and in my ears light and in my sight light, and above me light, and below me light, and to my right light, and to my left light, and before me light and behind me light. Place in my soul light. Magnify for me light, and amplify for me light. Make for me light, and make me light. O Allah (God), grant me light, and place light in my nerves, and in my body light and in my blood light and in my hair light and in my skin light."[Hadith Bukhari and Muslim]

So, we all have our strengths and weaknesses and my weakness is that I can sometimes get caught up in my own head with my own cute lil story.

I've had 4 decades of mindset challenges where alhamdulilah I have achieved a lot yet I can easily sabotage it with my negative thinking (usually happens when it's lady time and only a lady will understand that one!).

This self-sabotaging can easily mess me up in all areas of my life that I've worked so hard to achieve and most of my negative thinking isn't real anyway at all - it's comfort zone comfort!

For the last two years I've really worked even harder on this and have had a lot of spiritual awakenings as of it too - and accepting who I am even more (highly intuitive soul with psychic abilities for instance - there i came out and said it!).

So, I'm challenging myself - and if you know me by now then you know I really do challenge myself big time - to drop all negative thinking from my system and to re-write my subconscious for goodness and positivity insha'Allah.

This doesn't mean that incidents won't happen - they will - and alhamdulilah I'm blessed to deal with them strongly - but then the negative thought pattern kicks in - i 'suffer' from delayed reactions which means i'm brave in the moment for myself and my loved ones then i run away and cry under the covers where only God can see and hear my tears.

I've been working harder on my mindset since November last year and now I have set myself this challenge and so far alhamdulilah.

Really, I don't have anything to be ungrateful for (and neither do you) and if I'm really going to help all those who need my help and run a successful biz and have a successful life upon then deen then bismillah and let's do this!

You in? I know it's a challenge and we need a lot of self-discipline but I know with God's mercy and help we can do it now!

"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." Partial {Qur'an; 13:11}

It's time to get out of our own head and get out of our way and shine our light to become an asset to our Ummah and humanity.

How often do we want to escape our day to day and go on holidays for a break and when we come back we say; 'Oh i need another holiday!'

I hear this all too often from busy professionals who want to escape their 'reality' then they come back and need another holiday and go back to work all tired and moody again.

So, what were they escaping from in the first place?

What you run away from will chase you!

What you resist persists.

Now this doesn't mean i'm against holiday making - i just don't understand the mentality of some who are blessed to take a break and see some beautiful places in the world yet they are still ungrateful and moody to go back to work.

If you don't like your work then why are you still there? Who is forcing you?

You have freedom of choice you know to make better decisions for your life - for your duniya and akhirah.

Oh, you have bills to pay?

We all do - and so do i!

There are many people who go day in day out without food yet many of us, especially in the west, are ungrateful for all that we have subhan'Allah!

And besides the necessities who said we need 20 phone lines or the newest flat screen tv or technological gadget?

Of course you can afford it, alhamdulilah for that, and of course you can gift yourself but i think we need to stop for a second and really search within now.

Instead of looking for an escape to go on holidays and then still be dissatisfied when we come back how about we stop for a moment and travel within and really get to know what's happening beneath the surface because if we leave it be it will come back to bite us and bite us real bad!

It will eventually catch up and we'll have a break down.

Get to know your emotions and why you do what you do.

Give your soul a chance to heal now.

You can't move on and live in your present and prepare for your awesome future if you keep looking back.

Your past is exactly just that - past.

There is a lesson in it for you to learn - now's the time to learn it and get moving on.

You owe it to yourself.

How long will you continue with those painful memories?

What purpose do they really serve?

You know you're worth more than your current reality!

You're simply one thought away from letting go and releasing yourself from those shackles.

If the Angel of Death came to you now is this how you want to return to God?

Hasn't God given you life?

Hasn't He given you the ability to make things happen for you?

Stop torturing yourself right now and get living the life you want.

Start by clearing the junk in your head and filling it with goodness.

You know if you keep eating junk food you're gonna fall ill right?

Toxic thoughts do just that - make you junk and God didn't create you no junk He created you awesome.

Begin now and travel within.

Make a promise to get rid of those negative habits and behaviour, start to create some positive changes now and then you'll enjoy your holiday making break properly AND you'll always be on an emaan-high too! :)

"To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment." Eckhart Tolle

Each moment is teaching you a lesson and this lesson is shaping up the human you are meant to be - the human you are being right now.

The only thing is how you perceive it and how you react.

This will determine your path in life and what you achieve.

I know It hurts deep and it's confusing - especially when it happens over and over again and you just don't get it and you're like why me?!

God will give you the same lesson over and over until you are ready to learn the lesson and move on.

You give meaning to whatever is happening in your life right now but God only gives us what we can handle.

Even a prick of a thorn is a purification but for some it shatters them completely - it all depends on how YOU want to perceive it now.

It all depends on how you control your thoughts and we can control our thoughts - don't let them control you.

Your unique purpose is unique to you and God ultimately created you to worship Him alone.

We are on a journey - this journey will take us back home - back to God and His Heaven.

Each moment is our only moment and this moment, my dearest diamond soul, is all you and i have - how will YOU use this moment?

Do not fear or lose hope or despair - close your eyes, focus on your breathing and let the Light into your soul. God is with you...always and forever. It's time to create those positive changes in our life, live upon the deen and prepare for our best akhirah now.

It's time to live a life on purpose with purpose.

Take a deep breath in - release and now receive love, duas and light.

Hope this helps on your journey now! :)

Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an; "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me (alone)" [partial, 51:56]

So i just learnt about this concept. When we are dealing with any of our challenges we are either actively releasing our emotions or recycling them.

Releasing is when we have dealt with our emotions - actively - and time span is different for us all as we are all different - and then we get to a stage where we release our emotions and we begin to heal. This is when you start to feel ease, peace and calm within and you are actively getting on with your life - no more random tear sessions when hearing that song or seeing that picture.

Recycling is the stage where we keep repeating and repeating. We go through the whole 'Why' syndrome and is something i have also done and sometimes i have deliberately allowed myself to stay down this road longer than i should have and i have 'suffered' the consequences and yes suffering is optional - we have within us the ability to switch into the now and be OK only if we give ourselves permission.

Many people stay stuck in the recycling stage and so did i - especially in my teens and twenties.

I guess it's because it is comforting - as in we get used to our comfort zone and don't want to stretch ourselves but deep inside we know that if we do stretch ourselves we will learn and grow.

Releasing one's emotions doesn't happen overnight - especially when it involves the loss of a loved one. We naturally go through phases to understand it all and be OK.

Another thing is that many times we - yes females and males - were brought up to just 'deal with it and get over it' yet that same person would be eating their own words (we've all experienced that).

Healing begins as soon as we accept that God has something awesome planned for us and that He does not burden our souls more than we can handle and that He already knows we can handle it and He is looking at our response - whether we'll be grateful or ungrateful and how we will react. Healing begins when we understand our emotions and what triggers us and we realise that we have the power to change our state by changing our thoughts as we create our thoughts and we can direct them where we want. Healing begins when we let go and let God.